There are always questions and questions in our mind and maybe we do not find answers directly after raising them, but it is much worthful to start thinking about such questions than never raising one about our being, about our behaviour, about our world. For in questions lie our desired answers, which will enrich our 'speaking outs' that will change our world!

Silvana Uhlrich

Gora (the founder of the Centre) and family, along with some 'other colleagues, was associated with Gandhi and the nationalist movement. They participated in the freedom struggle and underwent imprisonment. Gora had long discussions with Mahatma Gandhi on atheism and social change and the discussions have been published in the form of a book entitled, "An Atheist with Gandhi", published by the Navajivan, the official publishers of Gandhian literature.

"Luzhkov has done more than anyone to publicise gay rights in Russia," beamed Nikolai Alekseev, the gay parade organiser.

The other two MPs from her party who did not to attend the mass are Thór Saari and Margrét Tryggvadóttir, while the fourth, Thráinn Bertelsson, joined the rest of the parliament and went for the mass. However, according to Jónsdóttir, there are a few MPs from other parties who also refrained from attending the Cathedral mass.

Tech-savvy Iranians quickly began using the website to organize events in support of candidates in the upcoming presidential elections. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, the site was proving especially successful in pushing the candidacy of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, the most liberal of the candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Tech-savvy Iranians quickly began using the website to organize events in support of candidates in the upcoming presidential elections. According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, the site was proving especially successful in pushing the candidacy of former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, the most liberal of the candidates challenging President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ibn Warraq starts by making the point that it can be dangerous to leave Islam. Doing so makes one an apostate. Apostasy generally carries a death penalty, especially for men. And even for those who survive, it often results in the forfeiture of one's possessions and legal rights.

Nevertheless, some people do leave Islam. My own ancestors did so over a hundred years ago. And as this book mentions, some leave it in favor of polytheism, especially in Indonesia. Or for Christianity. But the main thrust of the book is to describe something about those former Muslims who have simply abandoned religion in general and why.

The main reasons for abandoning Islam have turned out to be its irrationality, its immorality (especially the treatment of Women), and the personal life of the Prophet.

Others have reacted negatively to the fanaticism and aggression of many Muslims, as well as to the increasing lack of economic competetiveness of Muslim portion of the world.

There were a few unusual points made in the book. One was simply that apostasy is not really applicable to Buddhism, let alone most polytheistic religions. Another was that if we humans were in need of divine guidance 15 or 20 centuries ago, surely we are in at least as much need of it now: why are there supposedly no more prophets to supply that guidance?

Another point is that Western media are prone to publishing pro-Islamic material. This is explained simply: Islam is in the news, so the media have to say something about it. And the media are reluctant to say anything negative for fear of being called Islamophobic.

One of the writers in the book points out that some of the articles about Islam generated by those who have abandoned it are virtually a mirror image of traditional apologetics for Islam. Is it proper to write so vehemently? The conclusion is that while vehemence often obscures otherwise sound arguments, vehement essays often make valuable points too.

The book concludes with some useful references to the Koran and on the life of the Prophet, followed by a list of websites critical of Islam and some books critical of Islam.

This book is interesting and worth reading. I think it fills an important niche between politically correct whitewashing of Islam and denunciations of Islam from those who never were a part of it.

Jill Malter, the reviewer, is an Amazon Top 500 Reviwer

Born on 25 January 1952, Tatchell was selected as Labour Party Parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey in 1981, and was denounced by party leader Michael Foot for supporting extra-parliamentary action against the Thatcher government; though the Labour Party subsequently allowed his selection, when he ran in the Bermondsey by-election in February 1983. In the 1990s, he becamea prominent gay equality and LGBT campaigner through the direct action group OutRage!, which he co-founded. He has tackled a wide variety of human rights issues, and is a frequent contributor on such subjects in print and through broadcast media authoring thousands of articles and six books. In 2006,New Statesman readers voted him sixth on their list of "Heroes of our time". In April 2007 he became the Green Party prospective parliamentary candidate in the constituency of Oxford East.

"We would like to remind our fellow Muslims at the House that they should know that they are representing Muslim communities and by extension the interest of Islam. It is therefore a fundamental Islamic duty on them to first and foremost, protect and preserve the tenets of the religion before any other interest," said the chairman.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200906030339.html

The new session of the Althing, the Icelandic Parliament, is alway opened with the Members of Parliament going into the main cathedral in Reykjavik which is next door to the Parliament building and sitting through a mass held by the Bishop and some other ministers of the Icelandic Lutheran state church. Afterwards they all parade out of church and into the House of Parliament. After the Icelandic government collapsed recently and elections were held, the new government was established last Sunday and Parliament was convened on Friday. Sidmennt decided to offer a secular alternative to the traditional mass and we invited every Member of Parliament to attend a thought provoking short talk right across the street given by one of our celebrants who is a philosopher, on the subject of the importance of ethics in politics.

We sent announcements to all the media in Iceland and they all picked up on it. We posted it on Facebook as well and and it set the blog world on fire. We have received enormous praise and a groundswell in favor of complete separation of church and state and condemnation of the religious service that has always been connected with the Althing which is an entirely worldly institution. People wrote things like "we need to listen to more philosophers, not more clergy". Sidmennt's mottoes are "It's valuable to have choices" and "It's all right to be different".

On Friday we got fabulous media coverage. Every TV and radio station and every newspaper and web news service repeated the news of our event throughout the day. Around 20 people showed up, 4 of whom were very brave new Members of Parliament and one City Council member. Iceland has a total of 63 MPs. One of the MPs who attended our event told us that her party which includes a majority of people in favor of separation of church and state, but also has a handful of religious people one or two of whom are clergymen, exerted enormous pressure on her to NOT come to our event.

Our philosopher gave an excellent 10 minute talk with lots of great advice for politicians and we served coffee and cake in a ritzy private room of a fashionable hotel across the street from the Althing. When we went outside many people praised and congratulated us. We posted the speech on our website, sent it to the media, and said we will continue to offer this alternative to the traditional Parliamentary Mass. There have only been a very few disgruntled believers writing on blogs and criticizing the event.

There were many protest demonstrations in front of the Althing about many issues (mostly about the economic collapse in Iceland) and some of the signs said things like "4 billion kronur Mass" The state church receives 4 billion Icelandic kronur per year in government funding. Many people at the protest who were interviewed on the news said they thought it was outrageous and inappropriate that Parliament is opened with a religious ceremony in this day and age. The MPs who attended our event said they saw absolutely no reason why religion should be connected in any way with Parliament.

We got an unbelievable amount of free publicity and positive press coverage on this event which was organized in less than 36 hours and have been feeling very proud of ourselves.

Hope Knutsson, is the president of Sidmennt, the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, Iceland

Tiller had been a lightning rod for abortion opponents for decades. The women's clinic he ran is one of three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy, when the fetus is considered viable, and has been the site of repeated protests for about two decades.

The bequest, to be known as the “Victor Kay Humanitarian Fund”, is a trust fund to be treated as the IHEU’s other endowment funds. Income from the Fund will be available to support IHEU in all of its mission and general operations, starting in 2010.

“Ultimately, endowments are more enduring than even bricks and mortar,” said Eggerickx. “This is an exciting gift for the IHEU, which touches the lives of all of our members. Gifts from Mr. Kay and other generous donors help us to pilot programmes, provide more activities and take advantage of important opportunities that otherwise couldn’t be realized. We hope others will be inspired to contribute to the IHEU’s continuing efforts to build a more humane and rational world.

Speaking of an Open Society?

Perhaps it's just the way how Singaporeans think. Oh well. Singaporeans are quick to assume that we have the freedom to love despite knowing that GLBT communities here are bigot's number one hated people.